Thu May 17, 2012

When Valley Interfaith Project leaders learned that there was no additional funding planned for after-school programs in the initial version of the city's budget proposal they pressured Phoenix officials to reinstate services for children and youth. In response to community pressure, officials voted to restore $6 Million in funding for after-school programs, pools and libraries.

Mon Aug 15, 2011

In 2010, EQUAL launched the Rochdale Early Advantage Charter School (REACS), the only charter school in a neighborhood with few quality school choices. The school will provide 110 kindergarten, first and second grade students an excellent education, and will eventually expand to serve 235 students. EQUAL leaders are working to secure a new building, which will be needed as the school grows.

Thu Aug 11, 2011

South Bronx Churches, a coalition of neighborhood congregations, nonprofit agencies and tenant and homeowner groups, imagined and organized for a modern four-school campus at Mott Haven, now serving over 2000 children with a world-class education in some of the nation's top educational facilities. The new schools campus opened its doors in September 2010 on a seven-acre site at East 153rd Street and Concourse Village West. The $250 million project is the single largest school construction plan in the history of New York City.

Thu Apr 14, 2011

BUILD organized with MD IAF and the Baltimore Education Coalition (BEC) to restore $18 million in state funding for Baltimore schools and $94 million state-wide. BUILD joined BEC to meet with legislators in Annapolis, testify at hearings, make phone calls and emails, and helped turnout 2000 parents, students, and teachers on a rainy night to call for restoring the cuts.

Wed Feb 2, 2011

The Jeremiah Group in New Orleans first brought forth 25 parents with gifted children that had been denied admissions to advanced academies in the Jefferson parish. After several months of challenging the lack of transparency and irregularities of the admissions process, evidence emerged that school board members wrote letters supporting the admission of certain children, leading the Superintendent to step down.

Within eight months the Jefferson Parish School Board passed new protocols putting testing and admissions under central control, ensuring that student test scores (and not political connections) are the determining factor in admissions to schools for high-performing students. Jeremiah Group advocated for these changes, thus simplifying the process and making it more accessible to all parents.

Wed Oct 14, 2009

The Alliance Schools Initiative grew out of relationships between member institutions in the local Texas IAF organizations and public schools in their neighborhoods. The Texas Network took relational organizing principles into low income communities to engage parents and community in the transformation of their schools. This model of school organizing has been replicated by other West and Southwest IAF organizations, and has been widely recognized by both the public and private sector as a successful strategy for community engagement and student achievement. Most recently, a study by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University credits Austin Interfaith’s work with area Alliance Schools for increasing student achievement on standardized tests by an average of 15-19%, as well as for improving professional culture and parent involvement at the campuses. In fact, the Annenberg study found that Austin Interfaith’s work with the schools benefited not only those particular campuses, but resulted in substantial new resources for all high poverty, low-performing schools in the district.

Wed Sep 2, 2009

Lake County United researched, developed and launched Waukegan to College, an intensive family-focused college readiness program in 2009. This fall the program has grown to 52 students from 30 families, with 10 students now in college. With guidance from a 12 member planning team, we have completed a strategic plan for Waukegan to College and will begin recruiting a board of directors to oversee the program as it spins off into its own stand alone non-profit roughly one year from now.

Common Ground Release Video: "Play It Forward"

Fair Play is a campaign to foster greatness in public spaces. It is Common Ground's position that if public funds are used to build a new Bradley Center arena, then at least $150 million of these funds must be used to improve Milwaukee County public schools athletic facilities and recreational spaces.

Archbishop Fiorenza Cheers Church's Work with TMO for Schools

"I want to ...congratulate parishioners of Divina Providencia Church, its pastor, Father Chris Plant, the parents of the children, and Neighbors in Action for working with The Metropolitan Organization (TMO) to keep Port Houston open.

They have demonstrated Pope Francis’ exhortation for parishes to get involved in the community."

Common Ground Still Pushing for Better Athletic Facilities

As work and discussion begin on the arduous and controversial process of planning for a new multipurpose arena or renovating the BMO Harris Bradley Center, Common Ground, a well-organized community organization, is reminding stakeholders of its own mission.

The organization, with members who belong to churches, small businesses, nonprofits and neighborhood groups, says it hasn't wavered from its stand that if public funds are dedicated to a new arena, then at least $150 millon of those funds must be used to improve Milwaukee County public schools athletic facilities and recreational spaces.

Gecan Quoted in NYT Piece on Pre-K Funding

Andrew M. Cuomo arrived at The New York Times in an expansive mood on Wednesday. Reporters being reporters, they barraged him with the usual, “Hey, you going to let New York’s new mayor tax the wealthy in pursuit of prekindergarten” questions....

Albuquerque Interfaith Fights to Save Scholarship Fund

Marta Parra told her oldest daughter she could never go to college because they didn’t have enough money – Parra hadn’t yet heard of the state’s lottery scholarship. Now Parra’s younger daughter, a high school student, may not be able to attend either because the lottery scholarship could be reduced as soon as next year due to insufficient funds.

North AZ Interfaith Rises to Challenge of AZ Education Funding Crisis

Northern Arizona Interfaith Council and about 800 teachers, school staff and community members, including business owners, filled the Mile High Middle School auditorium Wednesday night to talk about school funding for the three districts in the quad-city area...Special guests at the meeting included Secretary of State Ken Bennett, Rep. Karen Fann, and Prescott Valley Commercial Development Group chairman.

Austin Leaders Leverage $2.38 Million for Youth & Young Adults

“Austin Interfaith worked from the ground up to get its priorities included in the budget….It represents the interests of low-income families and has become a familiar presence at City Hall in recent years. Austin Interfaith leaders mobilized members to show up en masse to city budget hearings to plug these programs, meet with council members and bombard council offices with calls and emails in the days leading up to the final budget vote. The nonprofit was elated that council members agreed to spend money on all of Austin Interfaith’s priorities, totaling $2.4 million.”

Predatory Learning

Several months ago, on a damp gray afternoon, I found myself sitting in a coffee shop in downtown Racine, Wisconsin, just a few blocks from the Lake Michigan shoreline. That weekend a colleague and I would be conducting a leadership training session with teachers, parents, and community leaders...

School facilities bill grew from grass roots

Michael Dresser got it right in describing the trajectory of the Baltimore school facilities bill as going from "non-starter to law," but the story goes far beyond the elected and appointed officials who worked hard to make the deals and shepherd the legislation to passage ("City schools bill a political showpiece," May 17).

The deeper story must include the herculean efforts of the Baltimore Education Coalition (BEC), the innovative policy advocacy work done by the ACLU of Maryland and the powerful community organizing of groups like BUILD and Child First. Our elected officials don't do this by themselves. They were propelled to act by the incredible urgency and public will created by the BEC. BEC made the problem of broken-down, substandard schools real, laid out a vision for a solution and created the imperative so elected officials had to act.

Over the last three years, BEC organized hundreds of meetings in schools, neighborhoods and churches to train and mobilize leaders. Coalition members held dozens of meetings with elected officials, gaining commitments that decent school buildings would be their number one priority for 2013. BEC organized huge rallies in Annapolis including February's 3,000-person rally for new and renovated schools.

Common Ground backs plan to update school athletic facilities

Members of Common Ground, a community organization of churches, small businesses, nonprofits and neighborhood groups, on Sunday soundly backed a new initiative to upgrade school athletic facilities in Milwaukee County. The initiative is called the Fair Play Campaign. In a statement backed by more than 450 delegates, the group said it would propose designating a minimum of $150 million from any public financing plan for a new multipurpose arena to replace the BMO Harris Bradley Center. The funds would be used to upgrade Milwaukee County public school athletic facilities and recreational spaces. "Today we are changing the conversation about how our monies are spent and what our priorities are," said Jennifer O'Hear, a parent of three children, two of whom are enrolled in the Milwaukee Public Schools.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Thousands of Baltimore City families petitioned lawmakers for billions in funding to renovate or rebuild about 65 of the school district’s crumbling buildings. Parents, students, teachers and community leaders rallied in Annapolis Monday evening for legislation that would create a block grant each year in the state budget for the city’s schools, enabling the city to leverage that to borrow more money. Supporters say the measure would create more than $1 billion to remodel the dilapidated infrastructure of several schools. Legislation has been filed in Annapolis to create the program.

Promises to keep: Seven mayoral candidates make school reform pledges, and many are underwhelming

At the mayoral forum sponsored last week by the Daily News and the Metro IAF citizens organization, Democrat Bill Thompson got to the heart of why we pressed the candidates to detail plans for the schools. He asked: “What defines success, not just in four years, each year. The chancellor and mayor need to be held accountable for that. We need to put that forward.” With very mixed success, the seven-member field attempted to accomplish that goal in front of an audience of about 1,000 New Yorkers gathered at Manhattan’s Central Synagogue.

Thousands rally in support of Baltimore schools

Supporters of a $2.4 billion plan to rebuild Baltimore's crumbling schools made a show of support in Annapolis on Monday night as thousands of people staged a loud, festive rally outside the State House to urge passage of legislation to launch the program. Teachers, students, parents and others described deplorable conditions in city schools — ranging from disgusting bathrooms and broken windows to stifling classrooms and inadequate computer labs — as they called upon lawmakers to provide the resources to rebuild the state's oldest school buildings. "We're not asking for charity. We're not asking for a handout," said Yasmene Mumby, co-chairwoman of the Baltimore Education Coalition, which organized the rally. "We're asking to use existing state funds to renovate and reconstruct our school buildings efficiently, effectively and in a smarter way."

NM Bill Would Bar Private Firms From Running Public Schools

Rep. Mimi Stewart and Sen. Linda Lopez, both Albuquerque Democrats, joined the Rev. Trey Hammond of Albuquerque Interfaith, a faith-based community organizing effort, as well as a coalition of parents, students and public-school supporters, at a news conference Tuesday to announce the introduction of House Bill 460.

Austin Interfaith In-District Charter Proposal Wins Unanimous Support

"School board members have lauded the process that Travis Heights used to garner support for the transformation, which they approved last month. Unlike the district’s failed partnership with [another charter school]… the move to turn Travis Heights into a charter school had the enthusiastic backing of the school’s parents and teachers, joined by Austin Interfaith and Education Austin."

EPISO Leverages Commitments for Equity in School Funding

More than 200 leaders of El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization assembled to challenge Clint Independent School District board candidates to “eliminate all disparities in per student funding throughout the district if elected….Challengers Claudia García, Sonia Herrera, Susana Santillan, Dino Coronado and incumbent Patricia Randleel participated at the nonpartisan accountability session at the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Horizon City.”

Border Interfaith Leverages Commitments on School Testing

Candidates for the U.S. Congressional 16th District of Texas, the Senate District 29 of Texas, Texas House of Representatives District 78 and for District 1 of the State Board of Education participated in Sunday’s candidate accountability session…organized by Border Interfaith at the San Judas Tadeo Catholic Church in the Upper Valley.

CLEVELAND - Supporters of the levy for Cleveland Public Schools are warning against laying off teachers, and a potential $50 million deficit. Over the weekend in an east side church basement, mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers and concerned citizens met up for a voter registration drive.

EPISO Challenges School Spending and Representational Disparities

Before the board meeting on Wednesday, the El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization, or EPISO, and the Paso del Norte Civil Rights Project argued that the district’s at-large elected board does not ensure equal representation throughout the communities it serves.

VIP Restores $6 Million in Phoenix Budget for Youth & Children

Earlier this year, a faith-based political-action group began putting pressure on Phoenix officials to reinstate some services after noting there was no additional funding planned for after-school programs in the initial version of the city's budget proposal.